No tax increase as Lansdale adopts 2014 budget

LANSDALE — Taxpayers in Lansdale, the news is good for the third straight year.

On Wednesday night, borough council unanimously approved a 2014 budget that keeps taxes level at the current rate of 3.5 mills.

“The goal we set forward four years ago is continuing to bear fruit. We said all along that part of the plan was to get things in line, restore our financial footing, so that we could continue to provide the services that borough residents deserve, and have come to expect,” said councilman Dan Dunigan.

Budget talks have been ongoing all year in council’s Administration and Finance committee, which Dunigan chairs, and began in earnest in October when staff presented a budget with revenues and expenses equal at $31.744 million.

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The budget - as presented for public review in November - keeps operational expenses roughly level with previous years, while funding debt service on 2010 and 2012 capital project bonds, funding new human resources, information technology, branding and wayfinding systems, and provides $100,000 to borough nonprofit Discover Lansdale to support its annual activities and public events.

With little discussion from council except for numerous seconds to the motion, the budget was approved unanimously along with three other related motions, setting the real estate tax level for 2014, approving a wage and salary schedule for seasonal borough employees, and passing a new schedule of fees and services that includes minor modifications to certain Code department permit fees.

“From the little things, like making sure the right amounts of stone get put onto the right streets, or making sure the lights stay on and the toilets flush, all of those things take time and money,” Dunigan said.

“At the end of the day, we’ve found a way to structure our financial picture that funds all of our staff, our long term projects, and avoid using our reserves, and that’s quite a change over the last four years,” he said.

You can view that budget in draft form on the borough’s website www.Lansdale.org, along with the budget presentation from borough Manager Timi Kirchner given to council and the public in November.

Lansdale Borough Council next meets at 7 p.m. on Jan. 6 at the North Penn School District’s Educational Services Center, 401 E. Hancock St. For more information or meeting agendas and materials visit www.Lansdale.org or follow @LansdalePA on Twitter.